What soap/cream did you use today?

Cade v. (L'Occitane en Provence) bergamot, sandalwood, pepper, cade

Sixty seconds of loading lead to a thick and satisfying lather. It’s tempting to underload Cade since it foams up quickly. After only 15 seconds, you may think you’ve got all the fixings for a great shave. But give the puck a full minute of swabbing, and you’ll get a much richer lather and a much slicker emulsion. These hard vegetable soaps respond best to dogged loading and a strong wrist.

Great advice Bouki. As a young shaver I thought that early pile of foam was good protolather. Nyet! Hit that puck with a moist brush for a minute-vigiroso! Ignore the foam. My mantra - bubbles are the enemy, unless in champagne or a good German lager!

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Grooming department magnolia oud
Odd scent. I like it but odd. This will be polarizing.

I agree. I bought that scent when it was available last year. Passed it on. Great scent in many ways, but I immediately made an association that ruined it for me. Those darn scent associations… (Though sometimes they can be fun, too.)

Yes. It bugs me. Not sure what it is reminding me of. Got to stop dwelling on it cause it makes a fine set of suds

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Stirling Weekend in Malibu

I have been really liking Black Tie Razor Company's offerings of late and this morning was Black Velvet. It's a vetiver dream!  Upon opening the tub I'm hit with notes of black pepper and the citrusy top notes of the vetiver.  Add a wet brush though and the baser, dirtier vetiver notes come rolling home.  This is not a smoky dirty Salters French Vetiver but more nutty and earthy like Mikes.  Scent strength is medium and stays that way throughout the shave. Slickness is top notch.  Lather is medium structure but I find this soap to be interesting in that I can get medium to high structure from the same soap by beating it longer.  I like medium better so I didn't work that hard.   Today is going to be a great day.

Black Velvet to arrive here soon 

Harrods by Floris shaving soap (tallow)

Tallow+Steel Dark Two

Cade v. (L'Occitane en Provence) bergamot, sandalwood, pepper, cade

Sixty seconds of loading lead to a thick and satisfying lather. It’s tempting to underload Cade since it foams up quickly. After only 15 seconds, you may think you’ve got all the fixings for a great shave. But give the puck a full minute of swabbing, and you’ll get a much richer lather and a much slicker emulsion. These hard vegetable soaps respond best to dogged loading and a strong wrist.

Totally agree that you really need to load some of those veggie hard pucks... particularly the Cade. Sage advice!

Ourobouros t. (Murphy & McNeil) hippy amber

Smells like a headshop circa 1977: the incense, the amber, the rose oil all bring back fond memories of the days when albums were sold on plate-sized vinyl disks and the cover art was just as bizarre as the music. Fun, yes, but this mystic hippy vibe has already been done so many times before. Do we really need another nag champa soap? On the other hand, this soap’s lather is altogether sui generis. It has no backbone. It starts out limp as a cream, and no amount of agitation improves its posture. You can whip it all you want and it won’t stand up. I swirled it around my bowl adding more and more water, but I got nothing resembling a lather. Instead, my brush just soaked up the wet mass. I smeared it on my chops and pushed it around awhile, but it just lay there on my face like lo-cal salad dressing. The shave was fine, but in a market swamped with really excellent shaving soaps, it’s hard to find something uniquely praiseworthy about Ourobouros. I suppose if you crave a lather that’s low and close and won't insult your chakras, it may be worth a try.

Proraso Menthol Shave Cream